Northampton tree canopy change 2011-2021
Introduction
This report uses data from the National Land Coverage Database (NLCD) to summarize tree canopy changes in Northampton, Mass. from 2001 to 2021.
NLCD data was obtained from the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium. An interactive viewer for the underlying data is available here.
The NLCD provides data on tree canopy coverage at 30 meter resolution. The percent of canopy coverage is reported for each 30 meter square, with data available for each year from 2011 to 2021.
Tree canopy in Northampton
This chart shows tree canopy coverage for the City as whole. Overall coverage is approximately 57% for the entire period 2011-2021.
Canopy coverage increased slightly from 2011-2013 to a high of 57.7%, then decreased to a low of 56.6% in 2021, a decline of just over 1%.
Tree canopy in city centers
This chart shows the tree canopy coverage within the three city centers of Northampton.
Leeds center has the greatest amount of coverage, over 40%. Florence center has about 35% coverage while Northampton is about 20%.
The map at the end of this report shows the extents of the three city centers.
The next chart shows the change in percent tree canopy coverage in city centers since the 2011 baseline.
Leeds is the only city center with increased canopy coverage from 2011 to 2021. Coverage has decreased by almost 2% in Northampton and Florence.
This table shows the canopy coverage in 2011 and 2021 in the three city centers.
| Change in tree canopy coverage in city centers, 2011-2021 | |||
| City center | Year | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 2021 | ||
| Leeds | 40.5% | 41.8% | 1.3% |
| Florence | 35.5% | 33.7% | −1.8% |
| Northampton | 21.2% | 19.3% | −1.8% |
| Data: Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium | Analysis: Kent S Johnson | |||
Tree canopy by zoning category
This chart show the tree canopy percent within five zoning categories aggregated from the City zoning. Unsurprisingly, there is considerable difference in tree canopy coverage across the different zoning categories.
The next chart shows the change in percent tree canopy since the 2011 baseline, by zoning category.
The canopy increase from 2011 to 2013 is mostly in the Rural and Suburban/Water supply zones. All zones have seen a decrease in canopy since 2013. The decrease is largest in the Business/industrial and Central business zones.
This table shows the canopy coverage in 2011 and 2021 by zone.
| Change in tree canopy coverage by zoning category, 2011-2021 | |||
| Zoning class | Year | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 2021 | ||
| Suburban/Water supply | 66.2% | 65.5% | −0.6% |
| Rural | 57.9% | 57.6% | −0.3% |
| Urban | 45.7% | 44.4% | −1.2% |
| Business/industrial | 32.5% | 30.5% | −2.0% |
| Central business | 14.0% | 11.9% | −2.0% |
| Data: Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium | Analysis: Kent S Johnson | |||
Canopy change map
This map shows the change in tree canopy percent from 2011 to 2021. Overlays show Northampton city centers and zoning categories as aggregated for this report.
Copyright 2023 Kent S Johnson 
2023-08-12